More Women Are Fighting And Dying In America's Wars Despite Combat Ban

Despite Combat Ban, More Women Are Fighting and Dying In America's Wars -- The Atlantic

Female servicewomen, officially barred from combat, are taking part in all but name -- and many are paying the highest price.

In late October, a bomb tore through a team of American Special Operations troops on a raid against an enemy target in Kandahar province. The blast killed three, including a young female officer, Lt. Ashley White, who was attached to the elite troops during the strike and died at their side.

The United States formally bars women from ground combat--a prohibition in place for decades because the Pentagon believed that they lacked the requisite physical strength and that Americans weren't ready to see female troops come home in coffins. But that ban is breaking down. Women who pass a rigorous selection process are now being deployed to Afghanistan to serve with Rangers and Special Forces teams. Later this month, female sailors will begin bunking on submarines. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says that women should be allowed to try out for elite Navy SEAL units, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a crowd of ROTC cadets last year that he expected female troops to move increasingly into other Special Operations detachments.

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My Comment: On one level I am not comfortable with the idea that women can serve in combat .... but .... the fact is that they are serving .... and serving with distinction and honor.